RangerTurbo

No, it's intelligence. Usually what someone with two first names lack.

Do you think I didn't look at the link? Or are you trying to make me look like a punk with your last second call of brilliance? Obviously I did to note what features the Jeep has. Transwest is my go-to junk yard out here. They do more than "theft recovery". When it is a theft recovery, they usually list it as such,... you take a look at the link, follow the page to the rest of the advertised cars and note the ones that are listed as theft recovery. The Jeep isn't listed as such. No question is answered. By the ad, or you.

I wear a Galco belt. You need something that is thick tough leather so it holds its shape and doesn't collapse or flex around you.

That is a big red flag right now. I too am suspicious of why that damage has totaled it. I suspect unibody damage, but could only hope for the best. It wouldn't be bought to flip it. I'm to the point where I want a nice completely stock daily driver. No more lifted Jeep with its quirks. No performance modifications that reduce reliability. I want something I can drive till the wheels fall off and its worth nothing anymore. But, if the Jeep has too much hidden damage, that voids that vehicle as "reliable" to me.

You fail Einstein. Speed of light is roughly 186,000 miles per second, not hour. Anyhow, to put the following sarcastic statement into perspective: and keeping this Imperial, because fuck the Metric system. 186,000mile/sec = 982,080,000 ft/sec 3ft / 982,080,000ft = 3.054 x 10e-9... or .000000003054 seconds for light to cover those 3 ft. It's generally accepted we have a cognitive eye reception time of ~0.1 seconds. Meaning it takes us 0.1 seconds to realize what we saw. So in those 0.1 seconds, light would travel a certain distance that we can calculate. 982,080,000 x .1 = 98208000 ft. (distance light travels in 0.1s) 98208000 / 3ft = 32,736,000 (how many times light will travel those 3ft from prizm to prizm) So, in the .1 seconds it takes for us to "see" light travel from one prizm to the next (if we could see that), the light would actually travel back and forth from prizm to prizm almost 33 thousand times. For proof: .1 second / .000000003054 seconds = 32,743,942 which is roughly 32,736,000. Deviation allowed due to approximate speed of light used. I think it's time we upgrade to MkII eyeballs, cause there is no way in hell we could possibly ever see that.

Yah, that's why I was wondering how much they may have paid for it. $9500 is a lot, but if they only have a grand or two into it, low balling them might work.

Out here a JY has a "rebuildable" 2005 Grand Cherokee that's pretty damn loaded (HEMI, leather, nav, etc). Pics are a bit shitty, but it looks like it took the hit in the passenger rear corner, maybe some damage down the passenger side but doesn't look like it. From the looks, it needs the rear quarter pulled a little around the tail light, new rear bumper, and any structural work behind the bumper area, and that's about it? They want $9500 for it. http://www.transwestauto.com/site/cardetail.cfm?id=4622 My main questions are: Whose gone this route before? How much does the JY really have into this Jeep when buying it from the insurance company (pennies on the dollar is what I've been told)? I'm not totally serious about buying this, but the thought has seriously crossed my mind. If the unibody is straight, and the doors all seal on the passenger side, it could turn into a very nice fixer upper daily driver. Pics of the damaged side (sorry pics are poor, it's their pictures) http://www.transwestauto.com/images/cars/fullsize/4622(2).jpg http://www.transwestauto.com/images/cars/fullsize/4622(3).jpg

If you can train a dog from the instant they are weened, then I agree, a training collar maybe isn't necessary. But to adopt a year old dog, whose already grown into bad habits might need that extra bit of persuasion to listen. It's not hurting the animal as its not a real shock, its magnetic, and you don't set it to full power, just high enough to get their attention. And any good training collar will also emit a sound, and in time you can use just the sound to teach the dog instead of the shock and sound together. It's training through association. "I heard the sound, I better stop what I'm doing" Different dog situations take different methods too. I'm pretty sure my Chocolate Lab was beaten or mistreated before we got him. He was SEVERELY timid for the longest time. You so much as raised your voice, or made quick movements or play aggressive and he'd cower and hide from you. You can't correct a dog who's personality is like this. He won't learn, he'll only evade and hide and not learn a lesson. This is where the disconnect of the training collar is great. He doesn't know its you doing the correction (other than saying no along with the shock), therefore he can be taught without his own fear getting in the way of proper correction. And it's hardly lazy. You still have to work with the dog. You don't just sit on the couch and shock him when he/she is bad.

Right, you can tow, and have no issues at all. But think of it like this. You can wear no seat belt, and drive for years without worry and no accidents. But that one time you have a wreck, and you're left for worse because you didn't wear a belt, are you going to look back and say "well, I never had a problem before, so not wearing the seat belt wasn't the problem"?

Theres a difference between bark collars and training collars. Take the training collar off when the dog is contained and not open to being mischevious, ie. in their cage. Put it on every time they are out of the cage though so they learn the association of freedom, with restriction. This way too you can watch to make sure the dog doesn't chew it up. No need to have it on them if they are contained. Barking though while in the cage, and keeping a bark collar on them is a different story.

Did you try looking for an online emulator? Seems in college we used one quite a bit in lab... though that might have been for an 89.

Dude, I-80 can get boooooring, co-driver or not. I live just south of Salt Lake, and have done the I-80 from Ohio to Utah 4 times now. It sucks balls, worse in the winter. I don't know if I could do it for a living, but then again getting paid to do it might put a whole different spin on it.

She is hot, and I'd make nasty with her on the garage floor in a puddle of oil and kitty litter. However, that pic in the link, not so flattering of her, lighting is all wrong.

That doesn't explain why Jesse left Xtreme 4x4 though, only what she's doing now. I can't tell why she left Xtreme either though. After she hurt her back on the show, she came back for the last half of that season on extreme (no pun) light duty. Then, she just disappeared. Never a word about her going away from Ian, or explanation from the producer or crew(s).

Hard to tell. I only had a chance to take it to the track when it was running well. I was on 245/45/17's, on a cold unprepped track. Best that night, 14.6 @ 96mph, 2.3 60ft :eek However, the numbers did show, that based on my 1/8mile time, I picked up a full half second on the back half of the track to run the 14.6. So perfect day, perfect track, perfect launch. 1.7 60ft (with my 28" tall Mickey Thompson's on15" wheels), no spinning out of the hole, I'd say a 13.5 would be best with current setup. But I'll never find out, truck is down to bare frame with whole new setup coming. MS-II Holset HE351 (with more boost than the T3 could handle) IRS 100shot ?? Based on other turbo ranger combo's, if it will hook, it could run low 12's tuned right. With the 100 shot, 11's. Bench racing is phun.

I thought the same thing, but felt a real answer was better than a sarcastic one back, no internet drama that way. My cat on the other hand, would go ape shit crazy for laser pointers, yet I find them to very intelligent animals too.

Yes. It's either he recognizes the light from the tip of the pointer, and corresponds that with the laser dot, or recognizes the hand shaking and corresponds that with the laser dot. Either way, he's not fooled. And he can follow what's going on if you switch hands, or hand it off to someone else and I still move my hands to fool him. He's very intelligent.

Haha, I tried that with my two dogs. The chocolate one sniffed it, pawed it once, then looked at my hand, realized where the laser was coming from, then tilted its head and looked at me like I was the idiot. But, just to reiterate, wear the shit out of the dog! And a training collar goes a long way.

As much as I don't want to give anyone the ability to "check in" on me doing anything, I can't really argue against OnStar. Driving isn't a right; monitor it all they need... I guess But, as long as there are other manufacturer cars that don't do this, I'll shop elsewhere.

Crate training now will be hard. My opinion (which isn't based on anything more than experience) is that by ~9 months getting them crate trained is hard. They are now accustomed to sleeping with you, running free in the yard when gone etc etc. I do find (even if some people whine about it) that shock collars are a GREAT training aid. Make the dog wear it all the time and zap when doing something wrong. Make sure you use a commanding tone in your voice when saying NO at the same time. Eventually, the dog will learn. Some faster than others, just depends on the breed and intelligence. As well, the dog won't communicate you as the source of the shock, so no worry about the dog seeing you as an "enemy" for lack of better term. It will probably run to you if the shock is set too high. Time and patience persevere. I have two well behaved labs (which generally are anyhow) that as pups were just as "playful" as your dog. In fact, in the "show me your pets" thread, my yellow lab is pictured with the shock collar on, because sometimes while out in public, she'll still want to dart off to "visit everyone", got to remind her from time to time that's a no-no.

How old? Not too old to crate train it doesn't look. Also, you need to wear you dog out before bed time. A tired dog is a good dog.

I think LJ's point was that the Explorer, while it technically can handle the tow, isn't the best option when thinking of hauling for safety reasons. Reasons being that a larger (3/4ton +) vehicles can handle, brake, accelerate and all around tow better than a smaller vehicle which is maxed. I don't think he was really talking about the reliability of the tow or tow rig. One time a year, four times a year, or 100 times a year really doesn't matter (about making a difference) if that one time you have a failure while towing kills you. A poorly setup tow rig, or trailer can cause deadly accidents no matter what size the tow rig is. But, having a bigger rig is playing on the safe side when it comes to rolling the dice. Bigger, in these cases, is usually better. Given that you want to pull your car, I'd suggest something bigger than the explorer myself. I'd opt for a Diesel Expedition in the flavor of a 7.3L. You get the carrying capacity and towing capacity.

I had a high school buddy die from a roadside IED two summers ago. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the funeral. Watching the blast's is hard, thinking about what goes on behind the smoke is even harder. Selfish bitch doesn't deserve him, or what he's gone through to protect her.

He say anything more, or just his opinion? I'm assuming it's stemming from the Explorer/Firestone debacle. Whereas, Uhaul themselves quit allowing trailers to be rented to Explorers, but allowed trailers to be rented to Mountaineers. He's probably forming his opinion from this type of publicity. As well, in 2005 or 2006 (whenever Ford made the face change) they also improved the frame, steering, and drivetrain of the Explorers. The v8's have no issue with pulling power, the 4.0's while a bit more sluggish have little issue unless you're at the limit of weight or exceeding it. My only concern is from the 5 speed behind the 4.0 and heat when pulling a very large load. I haven't heard many issues though from the 6speed auto's behind the V8's. If equipped with the factory tow package (tranny cooler) there really isn't any issue as long as the driver is coherent.

On that note, Firestorm (and the Deluxe model), American Classic (and American Classic II), and Metro Arms 1911 are all sub $400 1911's. All entry level, but reliable. I believe the Firestorm and the Metro Arms are the same gun (marketed under their different names) made by Armscor. Armscor was farmed out to make the STI Spartan which is my personal 1911 of choice for all around goodness. Tech has come along way since all these company's have started making 1911's, and it's forced everybody to create an out of the box 1911 that functions fine from the get go. No more of the tuning and fitting required that was expected from the "big name" manufacturers 10 years ago. My personal suggestion, would be to opt for a model that is "upgraded" to a beaver tail grip safety and rounded hammer. Those help keep hammer bite from occurring, and slide bite as it helps to reduce how high your hand rides on the grips. The no frills models will be a truly base 1911 with the mil-spec safety and hammer. Expect hammer and slide bite from those if you're a first time 1911 user until you learn to make the effort to grip the 1911 right. Mil-spec 1911: Non mil spec with beaver tail and non spur hammer.